Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen led the first round of France's presidential election, qualifying for a second-round runoff in two weeks, final voting figures from the French Interior Ministry showed on Monday. 
The figures put Macron on 23.75% of votes and Le Pen on 21.53%, followed by conservative Francois Fillon at 19.91% and far-leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon on 19.64%, the ministry said in a statement. 
Macron and Le Pen will contest the run-off on May 7. 
New polls released Sunday evening showed pro-business Macron easily beating Le Pen, who has hardened her anti-immigration and anti-Europe rhetoric over the last week. 
Sunday's vote took place under heavy security after Thursday's killing of a policeman on Paris's Champs-Elysees avenue. With France still under the state of emergency imposed after the Paris attacks of November 2015, around 50,000 police and 7,000 soldiers were deployed to guard voters. 
Nearly 47 million people were eligible to vote in the Eurozone's second biggest economy and turnout was forecast to be high at around 78%.

Source: QNA